Amazon Rainforest Gets Big Boost in Protection

Bold targets to safeguard the Amazon’s ecosystems have a greater chance to be reached, thanks to a generous donation that ensures a decade’s worth of conservation efforts in Brazil’s historic rainforest to be conducted.

Founded in 2003, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative aims at supporting ongoing conservation efforts in the world’s largest tropical forest. An additional $300 million will be granted to extend the initiative until 2031, bringing the foundation’s investment to more than $800 million.

“Earth’s largest remaining rainforest, the Amazon, provides one-fifth of the world’s freshwater, is home to the planet’s most diverse collection of birds, mammals, freshwater fish, and plants, and serves as an immense carbon sink, making it a vital part of regulating climate and mitigating change,” explains the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

So far, 400 million hectares of land have been protected across the Amazon Basin. By 2031, thanks to the latest investment, an additional 100 million hectares — 50 million hectares of Indigenous land and another 50 million hectares of forest and freshwater ecosystems — will be managed in an effective manner. Plus, infrastructure projects that may harm ecosystems in all boundary countries will be identified, and the impact of non-renewable resources extraction activities will be examined. That way, more than 70% of the forest could remain intact.